[DeTomaso] Authentic versus non-authentic

Sat Oct 10 00:11:39 EDT 2009

 I lost respect for Shelby when he tried to pull of that "let's make up some new chassis, put them out in the rain for a while, then claim they were made in the '60s" scam.

Jim Oddie

-----Original Message-----
From: gow2 at rc-tech.net
To: Kirby Schrader <kirby.schrader at gmail.com>
Cc: asajay at asajay.com; detomaso at realbig.com
Sent: Fri, Oct 9, 2009 11:19 am
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Authentic versus non-authentic

The Factory 5 Cobra isn't much of a car. A lot of the other Cobra kit cars
are far better cars. The last 2 cars Factory 5 did are much better cars.

Shelby left the country to evade debtors for a number of years. He told
people when he left good luck selling Cobras because he didn't have much
luck. When he came back and the kit cobras became popular he began suing
the Cobra companies. Superformance had money and was able to win their
case.

Peter Brock was the Original designer of the Daytona Coupe. When he
designed the original, he ran out of time because they had to race the
car. He had a lot more work he wanted to do to the car.  Superformnce
approached him and asked him to continue his design. He said he doesn't
work for kit car companies. Superformance convinced him to come in and
check out their operations. They made him an offer and he agreed. He had
full control to finish designing the Daytona coupe they way he wanted to.
Some people say the Superformance "replica" is not exactly like the old
coupes but it isn't supose to be
 a replica. What it is, is a continuation
of the Daytona Coupe to completion. It is a Peter Brock coupe and they did
200mph first time out in street trim.

Now Shelby has come in and put his name on it. What is a Shelby car
anyway? A modified A/C to start? Shelby was far better at taking money
then fulfilling orders. When the pressure got to tough he often shipped
kit cars as his own.

I don't get the "Original Shelby" thing and the whole thing has muddied
the water as to what is an original why it matters.

> Asa Jay,
>
> Factory Five doesn't make a GT40 to the best of my knowledge. They
> call it a GTM Supercar. From what I've read, they started to make a
> GT40 and then became embroiled in the licensing issue, decided it
> wasn't worth it and made the GTM instead..
>
> To me, if you are looking for a 'real' GT40, then the Superformance
> models are continuation serial numbers. The real deal, in my opinion.
> They made no attempt to 'fix' any issues with the cars as they were
> built other than A/C and Wilwood brakes (major changes).
>
> CAV, RCR, ERA and others have changed/improved on the original design
> in many ways. You do your research and make your choice.
>
> The market for GT40 'post historics' (as we were called at Road
> America) seems to be pretty soft... An on the road, new and complete
> SPF GT40 MkII was sold recently for $70K! That's a steal! In fact, it
> was in your neck of the woods. It now resid
es in Iowa.
>
> FWIW,
> Kirby
> http://web.mac.com/kirbyschrader
>
>
> On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 10:24 AM,  <asajay at asajay.com> wrote:
>> I think Mike Drew owns a great example. Â He owns an original Pantera
>> that has been someone restored -and- modified but is an authentic
>> Pantera. Â He also owns a Mustang that is a clone of (I think) a GT350.
>> Â He makes no bones about it being a clone and not an authentic, even
>> though it probably far exceeds the performance of an original.
>>
>> In contrast, there used to be a guy here in Spokane that owned an AC
>> Cobra replicar. Â It was very nicely done but he continually passed it
>> off as an authentic original. Â When challenged on that by folks who
>> knew better, and after looking at the VIN tags, this guy would usually
>> just -leave- the car show in a huff. Â It was too bad really, he had a
>> nice car and probably could have won some awards even though it was
>> not an original Cobra.
>>
>> In the kit car world there are those that are fantastic, and those
>> that are not. Â The kit Pantera (or Fake Pantera as some have called
>> it) is an example of a poorly engineered project. Â It would take a lot
>> of work to make it look right even if it wasn't an authentic Pantera.
>> At least it's not being passed off as an authentic Pantera. Â Though we
>> have a hard enough time sometimes reminding people the Pantera in it's
>> original was
 not and is not a -kit-.
>>
>> On the other end of the spectrum we have things like the Kirham Cobra
>> or the Factory Five GT40s. Â These ares such finely engineered replicas
>> that someone like me can't even afford one. Â I'd be stuck with the old
>> fashioned volkswagon chassis with a fiberglass shell kit. Â I would
>> dearly love to get into a replica GT40 and maybe someday I'll be able
>> to afford one, but I'm certainly not going to pass it off as an
>> original, unless it really is.
>>
>> And in fact I think Bob makes my overall point, because I don't think
>> I could own that much of an original car that I couldn't touch it.
>> The Pantera is different, thankfully, but an original GT40 or an
>> original AC Cobra? Â I don't know I could enjoy it.
>>
>> Anyway.... just thought I'd pop in here for a minute.
>> Asa Jay
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